Envy
by Fox Mcloud SNR
Summary: For Tigress she couldn't believe someone like Po could be the Dragon Warrior. For Po all he wanted was to be her friend


**Envy**

**I've decided to do these one shots for a while just so I can get back to my roots for a while, also it would be cool to tell stories set in the universe I've created before Po and Tigress were as close as they are in the later stuff. I'll get back to the Dragon Warriors when I feel like it. This takes place before 'Lighten Up' so this is incredibly early in my stories timeline. It goes like this. Envy, Lighten Up, A Mother's Love, Date, A Better World?, The Way Back, Fragments, Rage of the Ifrit and I'm currently going through the latest story in the 'saga' The Dragon Warriors. Because this is so early for Po and Tigress don't expect them to be either nice or lovey dovey towards each other, Tigress has only just gotten to the point where she just stand being in the same room as him.**

**XXXXX**

**CRASH!**

Tigress opened her eyes swiftly upon hearing the oh so familiar sound of the gong reverberate throughout the halls of the Jade Palace Barracks. She sprung out of her bed and landed gracefully on her feet, she wanted to look ready for training to make Shifu proud.

It had been her main goal for a long time, Tigress, for as long as she could remember had seen nothing but disappointment loathing come from the eyes and posture of the old red panda whenever he looked at Tigress's self-destructive attempts to win his favor.

But the new recruit, the panda...The Dragon Warrior, Po, had done it so easily. It had only taken him a few days of training and he had beaten Tai Lung by himself, he didn't tell any of them how he had done it, Tigress suspected that he had won dishonorably or tricked Tai Lung which is why he didn't want to talk about it. It infuriated Tigress to think of the years of training she had put in to stop villains like the snow leopard from destroying the Valley of Peace but the panda just waltzes in with his cocky irritating attitude and beat Tai Lung.

At the time though he had won Tigress's respect, but that little spark of heroism she had seen from the panda quickly evaporated when she saw him become cocky and irritating again. Only the other day he had ruined a mission in the mountains with his antics, they had recovered the objective eventually but Tigress just couldn't forget the hindrance he had presented to both her and the rest of the Furious Five.

She snapped out her thoughts and quickly exited her room to see her comrades in arms, The Furious Five also standing outside their rooms. It was clear from their shocked faces that she was the last of them to appear, this was unheard of. Tigress had always been present before anyone else for the morning drill. Tigress frowned in disappointment, her eyes drifted towards the panda's room and her temper rose at seeing that he had also beaten her outside.

Po caught her angry look and looked away quickly, he knew she was angry and embarrassed at being late so he didn't want to infuriate her more by looking smug at getting up early for once. Po knew he was annoying her but he still felt insecure for his place among these kung fu masters, in his own way acting over the top and cock sure was his defense mechanism.

Tigress looked away from him and just looked at the ground waiting for Master Shifu, who for some reason wasn't present. Before anyone could question why he wasn't there the red panda walked around the corner quickly. He smiled warmly at the sight of all of his students bowing to him, he saw Po "Well done Po, you are up with everyone else for once".

Po nodded, "Thank you Master Shifu". A look of sadness flitted across Tigress's face but nobody noticed it, "I've always been up early, but how come when the panda does it once he gets praise?" she though irritably. Shifu started to say something so she began to concentrate on his words.

"Good morning students, my presence has been requested by Master Chao of the Sacred Onyx Council, he wants me to be present for a memorial service for the late Master Oogway." Shifu bowed his head slightly in respect as did his students. "I'll be leaving in a few minutes so take care. While I'm gone I wish for you all to continue with your normal duties", The Five and Po bowed to confirm. Shifu looked at Po, "Po, may I have a word with you for a private matter?", Po looked shocked for a second then nodded and followed Shifu away.

Tigress glared at the panda's form until he rounded the corner, she heard the others start up a conversation behind her. "I wonder what Master Shifu wants with the big guy?" asked Mantis, "I hope it isn't about the other day, Po just made a mistake and we recovered the ruby eventually" worried Viper.

Monkey shrugged, "It's not our problem, let's get something to eat I'm starving." The other murmured in agreement and made their way into the kitchen. Tigress's gaze lingered a little longer on where Shifu had been stood until she padded softly out of the building. She thought about following and eavesdropping on the conversation but it wouldn't work for two reasons. One, Shifu would hear her coming a mile away and two, she was polite enough to give them their privacy, knowing Po he'd probably just tell them later anyway.

XXXXXX

Po was walking back towards the barracks after talking to Shifu.

He smiled to himself over what Shifu had just asked him to do, "Who knew Shifu had that kind of side to him?" Po thought cheerfully. He smirked in determination, "I won't let him down" he said to himself loudly.

His stomach rumbled almost like a reply and Po resolved to get something to eat. He sighed to himself happily, because of his busy new life he hadn't taken the time to reflect on the way his life had turned out. It was exactly as he wanted it, he was learning kung fu, he had made friends with the Furious Five...besides Tigress although he was still working on that and he had gained the respect of his peers in the Valley of Peace.

He frowned to himself when thinking of Tigress, he didn't know what he had done to upset her so much. He knew how badly she had wanted the Dragon Warrior title, but all of the Furious Five had really wanted it and they eventually came around. Still knowing what kind of life she had lived before meeting Shifu and being adopted meant that Po sympathized with her, it only made him that much more determined to build a relationship with her.

During his internal monologue he had entered the barracks. He cupped his ear to see if any of the other master were still in the building, upon confirming that he was indeed alone he entered the kitchen. It was untidy due to the Furious Five having recently eaten in here, Po sat down and helped himself to some bean buns.

His thoughts drifted back to Tigress once more, "I wonder what she's doing right now?" He speculated aloud.

XXXXXX

Tigress tasted blood in her mouth, a wave of pain went through her ribs as well, her vest was slightly tattered and part of the shoulder had been torn. If she wasn't alone she probably would've got straight back up and soldiered on with her training. Tigress had been training as usual in the Training Hall, she took her usual spot with the "Spiked Clubs of Doom" as Po so poetically called them. When training her thoughts had once again drifted towards Po's and Shifu's conversation, Was it a secret mission that Shifu thought she couldn't handle? Crocodile Bandits in a far off land? Stolen treasure? The possibilities had been racing through her mind, so much in fact it took a large spiked wooden club to the face to literally knock them out of her.

She had crashed into the weapons rack which stood by the side of the apparatus in the hall. She growled in frustration, got up and realized that upon landing she had cut the inside of her mouth with her sharp fangs. Tigress sighed and sat down cross legged, "I need to know, why does fate see it fit to award such a lazy creature everything that I've worked so hard to achieve?"

After a little while of these self-depreciating thoughts Tigress decided to simply confront and ask Po himself about it. She stood up ignoring the pain of her earlier fall and took great strides towards the exit to find the panda. When she got close to the door she saw the Furious Five come in talking among their selves, "Where is Po?" Tigress demanded to know.

The other's looked at her ruffled appearance with confused expressions, "What happened to you?" asked Viper with great concern. Tigress looked at her, "Nothing, now where is our Dragon Warrior" she said with acid in her voice. Monkey and Mantis glanced worriedly at each other, they both wondered whether Po has something to do with her current condition, they didn't actually know where he was however as they hadn't seen him since this morning.

"I don't know, we haven't seen him since before breakfast" answered Crane. "Maybe you could try the kitchen, it's where he usually is" he said helpfully. Tigress nodded in thanks and brushed lightly past her comrades in arms.

XXXXXXX

Po moved the now empty bowl away from his face, his cheeks were bulging due to the ludicrous amount of noodles and beans buns he had just stuffed in there. The panda grinned to himself and wiped his mouth of the leftover juices.

He burped loudly, he blushed and clamped a hand over his mouth. "Nice manners Po, I'll be sure to win Tigress over with those kind of table manners" he said scolding himself. He went to remove himself from the chair to join the others in the Training Hall but he decided to have one more bowl of noodles before leaving, after all it couldn't hurt to have the extra fuel.

He emptied the rest of the pot he had prepared earlier into his bowl, Po took his seat again and instantly lifted the bowl to his lips and drunk it greedily. When he moved the bowl away from his face he nearly choked in shock at Tigress suddenly standing in the frame of the kitchen door looking at him with disgust at his eating habits.

He slowly put the bowl back onto the table while staring blankly at her. He gulped nervously and Po could feel his heart begin to race, "H-hey Tigress" he said quietly. Her response was silence, Po's confidence wilted underneath her look, he pushed his chair away from the table and rose out of it. "Well I'd better get going, I've got to train with the others, it's been cool talking with you Tigress" Po chuckled nervously and went to walk past her.

**THUMP**

Po yelped as she outstretched her arm quickly against the wall, it blocked his exit and caught him off guard. Po frowned at her, "Hey what gives?", Tigress advanced on him forcing him against the wall. "T-Tigress, what have I done?" Po asked fearfully.

She leaned close to him, Po tried to retreat further into the wall but there wasn't enough space. The position might of looked overly romantic or lustful to any passer by, but for the tiger only anger was present, for the panda only fear.

"Tell me how you did it" she hissed. Po trembled at her livid tone, in truth he could probably give her a run for her money if they actually fought but Po wanted to be her friend so badly that he didn't dare say a wrong word.

"Did what?" he said nervously, it probably wasn't the best choice of words as he knew exactly what she wanted to know Po had seen it in the eyes of all of the other masters, especially Shifu and Tigress. How had a fat panda defeated a powerful opponent such as Tai Lung? Po didn't want to say however that he had beaten the mighty snow leopard with fireworks and by thinking about food.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, how dare this panda mess her around? "You know exactly what I mean panda, how did _you_ of all people defeat Tai Lung? Even me and rest of the Five fighting at full strength could hardly put a dent in his defenses".

Po chuckled nervously and shrugged, "Just...luck I guess". Wrong answer, Tigress went to hit him, Po squealed like a young girl and ducked. He felt splintered wood hit the back of his head. He looked up at her snarling face, she saw the look of fear in his face and felt a wave of guilt hit her.

She pulled her fist out of the wall and looked at it, it was bloodied but she couldn't feel any pain due to her years of training with the ironwood trees. "I-I-" her voice failed her and she looked shamefully away from Po.

He stood back up and breathed heavily, he could feel the adrenaline flooding out of his system. A few minutes passed with silence, Po saw how sad she looked so he decided to reach out. He put a paw on her shoulder, she recoiled at his touch, "Tigress, why do you need to know so bad?".

"I...I've worked hard all of my life to get The Dragon Warrior title, every waking moment was dedicated to getting it and gaining Shifu's respect" she said sadly. Po gasped at her confession, he never expected when joining the Furious Five that he'd share this much of a conversation with his hero, his idol.

"I'm sorry that you didn't get the title Tigress, if it makes you feel any better then I never wanted or expected to get it, in fact, I think you of all the masters deserved to be The Dragon Warrior", Po smiled at Tigress but he just received a cold stare in return. "No it doesn't help", she started to walk away.

Po bit his lip, he had a feeling that this wasn't the reason she was really upset. He weighed up his options in his head, if he was brave enough he might get through her armor and get the Great Master Tigress to open up to him which could lead to Po being friends with her...on the other hand she was infamous for her temper and prodding too deeply at her emotions might cause her to snap and try to fight him again. Obviously Po wanted to avoid getting hurt as much as possible.

He decided to go for it. "Tigress , "Wait!" he ran to catch up with her. He ran around in front of her and put his paw up to stop her. The ever familiar frown appeared on her face yet again, "What do you want panda?"

"Tigress, I think I know why you're upset. I think you didn't really care about the title, are you just looking for Shifu's approval?". Tigress gaped at him, was it that obvious from her tone and body language? Or was the panda much wiser then he let on?

"Don't be ridiculous!" she yelled, "Why would you possibly think that?". Po looked away for a second to collect his thoughts, "I know why he adopted you Tigress, believe me I know how you feel." He said the last part softly.

"How could you possibly know that?" she snarled. Tigress cursed internally at giving her feelings away out of anger, Po smiled softly at being proven right. He then frowned at her, "Really, you think my dad the goose is my real dad?". To be honest the thought had occurred to her at one point, she didn't ask however because she didn't really care.

"He doesn't know that I know so I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything" Po said sadly, he hated lying to his father but he wanted to wait until Mr Ping felt comfortable enough bringing it up. Tigress folded her arms, "Sure whatever" she said disinterestedly.

Po nodded, "I know how you feel because I've always tried to make him happy, I even learned to cook because he loves making noodles more then anything", Tigress stopped folding her arms and looked at Po for the first time with no hint of loathing or disrespect.

"I realized something though" Po continued, "I learned that I didn't need to try and win his approval, he already loves me and I-". "Thanks panda that makes me feel much better!" Tigress admonished. She went to walk off but Po grabbed her arm, she whipped around to hit him but he quickly started to speak before she could.

"When you care about someone hurt is just a part of the package, Tigress I care about you which is why it's hurts when you're mean. But I care because I know how great a person you really are, Shifu knows it as well, he just has trouble expressing it, he _does _care about and respect you, you heard him when he sent us away. He knows how great you are, I think his fear of you becoming another Tai Lung stopped him from showing his love for you", Po smiled at her.

"The point I'm trying to make Tigress is that you don't have to spend every waking moment trying to win someone's respect, especially someone who I think already respects you enough to want you to not become like Tai Lung. Besides I think you're great, even it's only me surely it's enough to know that all of your hard work has gained my respect and the respect of everyone that you've saved right?". Po cringed internally.

_"Maybe that last bit was a tad too much...fanboy"_ Po reflected.

Tigress sighed and looked away from his gaze. "Ok pan-...Po" she said, his name rolled off the tongue she thought oddly. She gasped when she felt a flare of pain come from within the gash inside of her mouth, in the intensity of the moment she had forgotten about it. Po looked at her oddly, "Are you alright Tigress?"

"Yes fine" she said quickly. Before leaving she looked back towards Po who was looking forlornly at her, she smiled softly at him. "Thank you for talking to me Po, I know I've been a bit harsh to you and for that I'm sorry".

Po beamed warmly at her, "No problem Tigress, so are we friends now?". She looked at him oddly and folded her arms ambivalently, "Why do you want to be friends with me of all people? Especially after I said and did those things?". Po bit his lip in thought before gesturing for Tigress to follow him.

She complied, they walked to Po's room. The panda twiddled his thumbs nervously, "You want to know why I like you so much?" he asked, Tigress nodded. Po smiled and held open his door for her to enter.

Upon walking into his room she expected to see some glaring clue but she was greeted with nothing. She turned around and frowned at Po, "Why have you led me here Dragon Warrior?" her business like tone had resumed itself almost like some kind of defense mechanism.

Po walked over to his bed and knelt down next to it, he reached underneath it and pulled out a little, handmade wooden box. He placed it on his bed and stood back up, Tigress stood next to him to get a better look at whatever was inside of it. Po placed his paws on either side of it and lifted the lid up slowly, Tigress gaped at the contents.

The box was completely bare apart from one detail, a small figurine of her. She reached out to grasp it, she stopped mid-grasp and looked at Po for his permission, he granted it with a nod. She lifted the toy up and ran her paws over it, the texture was rough and it felt amateurishly made. "You made a replica of me?" she asked confusedly.

Po nodded sheepishly and placed the box softly back down onto the bed, "I have some of the others but this is the one I treasure most, I bring it with me everywhere inside this box" he said proudly. She handed him the figure and he looked at it with affection. Tigress asked the most burning question, "Why me?".

Po looked at her, "Because you're a hero" he said simply, there was more he had wanted to say (Po had dreamed so much in years previous that he had actually prepared a little speech should he ever of met Tigress and if she ever saw the little trinket he had made in her likeness) but his courage had deserted him . He picked the box back up and laid the figure back inside of it.

He placed back in it's usual spot and stood back blushing furiously, "I'm sorry Tigress, I know it's a little pathetic" Po looked dejectedly away. Tigress sighed, "Po it's fine, I just don't understand why me?". Po looked her in the eye, "Maybe I'll tell you some other time" he asked her what he had wanted to ask her ever since meeting her.

"Hey Tigress, do you want to be my friend?" he asked with hope twinkling in his eyes. She looked at him oddly before sighing, "I'm sorry Po but no". Po's heart broke, "Why?" he asked desperately.

She looked guilty at him, "I need time to get to know you, I don't even trust you at the moment. I'm sorry it's just the way I am". She avoided his gaze while on her way out.

"Hey Tigress" she heard him say. She looked over her shoulder to see him smiling cockily at her. "I'm gonna earn your friendship, even if it kills me" Po said determinedly.

Tigress shook her head while smirking, "C'mon Dragon Warrior, let's go train".

**Middlemen Comms now has a Facebook page, I'd appreciate it if you went and gave it a like, all of our content gets uploaded there so it's an easy way to look at it without having to subscribe to the you tube channel.**

**I'd like to ask a favor which isn't fanfiction related. I have a you tube channel called Middlemen Comms, it's a commentary channel on which me and my friend talk over video games, movies etc. I bring this up because we have just started a Kung Fu Panda marathon. In this marathon we'll be looking at everything in the franchise including the shorts on the DVDs (Secrets of the Five and Secrets of the Masters), three episodes of The Legends of Awesomeness TV show, The Holiday Special that was shown on the Christmas of 2010, the soundtracks which we will review track by track and last but not least the movies themselves, we've even included a little musical cover of Oogway Ascends. If you enjoy the content please like, comment and subscribe. My you tube alias is called NoelLennonArmstrong.**


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